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Petelka's vocabulary starts with personal pronouns: I is 1; you, 2; he, 3; she, 4. Adding X to the word-number makes a plural (man is 330, men is 330X). There are no articles, conjugations of verbs or declensions of nouns (except for the possessive case). Parts of speech are indicated by zeroes (democracy, the noun, is 8730; democratize, the verb, 87300; democratic, the adjective, 873000; democratically, the adverb, 8730000). Says Petelka...
Before Petelka can sell linguists on his system, he will have to clear up several points. Among them: 1) What would his system do about homonyms-words with several different meanings (run has 41 separate meanings as a noun, 49 as a verb, five as an adjective)? 2) What number would make democracy mean the same thing to an American and a Russian...
...jargon was springing up everywhere. In San Francisco the word "boodles" was used both as a noun and a verb-and could mean anything under the sun. In Charleston, S. C., where dyeing the forelock was all the rage, kids greeted each other by crying...
With the help of P.M.A., Uncle Joe became political boss of Pennsylvania, succeeding bulky, Rabelaisian Boies Penrose. He made Grundyism a common political noun. Grundyism was opposed to unemployment insurance, child labor laws, workmen's compensation, low tariffs, old-age pensions and labor legislation...
Memories. San Antonio remembered Maury even better than she did his grandpa, Sam, who had made his surname a common noun in the U.S. language and had once been mayor. During his two years in office, Maury had been credited with reducing traffic deaths and crime by 50%, rebuilding the health department, getting $6 million from the Federal Government for slum clearance and $4 million for civic beautification, reorganizing the police and fire departments and keeping San Antonio (and himself) in the national spotlight...